> On Thu, 4 Sep 1997, Michael Price wrote:
>
> > Hi Tweets,
>
> *Lots of great stuff snipped for space. Sorry!*
> >
> > My fave was the time I was reading at my desk late at night and my
> > peripheral vision told me that a section of the floor had suddenly decided
> > to go for a walk. In the spirit of true scientific inquiry, I thought: I'm
> > not gonna look over there; I want my mommy. With great will, I looked
> > directly at the biggest house spider I've ever seen. Eventually caught it
> > (trap it under a drinking glass and slip a piece of stiff paper underneath
> > it, escort to nearest door or window, open, thank it for visiting, heave). I
> > measured the hideous little rascal before taking it to the door and giving
> > it the bum's rush, and it was 5 *inches* across with a 1"-long body.

Geez... go away for a few days and the list gets into all kinds of things! As
others have mentioned, this is an apt descripion of that imported Eurasian
_Tegenaria gigantea_.

My best experience with this fear-inducing but oh-so-impressive creature was a
humorous one in retrospect (I was very familiar with this spider having grown up
in Vancouver, BC. It was the thing which popped out of the bathtub drain after
we kids had snuck into the living room and watched an episode of the original
"Outer Limits" behind our parents' backs. Talk about the heebie-jeebies!!)

In September of 1984, I moved to Fort Nelson, way up in the NE corner of BC. My
stuff had been in storage for several months in Vancouver. The movers having
done their thing, I settled into arranging things in the new house. While
tossing around the pots and pans, I took the top off one of the pots and
immediately dropped it. There staring at me with its multiple sets of eyes was
the biggest damn spider I had ever seen in my life! An easy 4 inches across. I
started to wonder how the heck a spider like this could survive up in muskeg
country, and boy oh boy, did it ever get into my pots and pans fast.

I left it in the pot and took some photos, then sent the slides to Rob Cannings
in Victoria who referred them to the Can. Museum of Nat. History in Ottawa. A
prompt reply filled me in on the details of its ID and that it had to be a male
due to the size of the fangs (more correctly, "chilicera", I believe). This was,
at that time, the northernmost record of the species in Canada. I let the spider
go at the side of the house, doubting it could survive the coming winter.

Of course, the beastie had stowed away in my gear while in Vancouver, BC and
then was transported up north. Not having much information back then on the
natural range of this species, I didn't twig until much later that this was an
incidence of "assisted passage". Live and learn.

- Jack



Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca